I've heard that many pali documents were written without punctuation, sometimes even without breaks between words.In the anapanasati sutta, there are two 'vaa's/either/or's accompanying every step in every tetrad, while the tetrads and individual steps are unnumbered. Many translations seem to leave out the 'vaa' altogether! What reasons are there for not translating the sutta as:Either breathing in long, he knows..., or breathing out long..., or in short, or out short..., or experiencing the whole body..., or body calmed, I breathe in etc...?

That is, the only necessary starting place would be the section up to "sato va passasati/mindful he breathes out. The first two steps--breathing in long/short, show what is should be known when you are ready to begin, and from there you just pick a wholesome object to link with the breath or link whatever wholesome object spontaneously presents itself to the breath.